US House Proposes Bill to Take Pensions from Federal
Criminals

December 15, 2005 (PLANSPONSOR.com) - Motivated by
the fact that their former House colleague Randy "Duke"
Cunningham will be able to keep his pension benefits after
pleading guilty to bribery, US House Republicans have
introduced a bill to take away pension benefits from federal
employee criminals.

The Associated Press reports that the “Public
Trust and Accountability Act” would add a list of
white collar crimes including bribery, solicitation of
gifts, perjury, making false claims and lying to a grand
jury to the offenses that would result in loss of federal
pension benefits.
Under current federal law, only a conviction for a
crime against the United States, such as treason or
espionage, can cause a member of Congress or other federal
employee to lose his or her government pension, the AP
notes.

Similar legislation has been introduced that would
apply only to members of Congress.
Various members of Congress, mostly Republicans, are
under scrutiny for possible ethics violations, and
lawmakers said there was a critical mass in support of
denying pensions to white-collar criminals.

Cunningham admitted taking $2.4 million in bribes
from defense contractors and others in exchange for
government contracts.
His pension is calculated to be around $40,000 per
year, the AP reports.
He resigned last month and faces 10 years in prison when
he’s sentenced in February.